A few weeks ago i wrote about the two (or three) types of typewriter that have ever existed including electro-mechanical as shown below. However, i was wrong (as happens occasionally) there was a fourth type of typewriter: the pneumatic typewriter!
Ever since the creation of the first manual typewriters boffins and engineers were looking into ways to make things easier for the poor typist. Electric was introduced as a way to help, using electricity to propel the keys or typebars at the page instead of the typist's muscle. A few inventors also looks at pneumatic power including compressed air. These were quiet in operation though often a problem was in getting the typebar to return fast enough.
Despite various attempts in the early twentieth century to overcome this issue, pneumatic typewriters never really caught on. Muscle and electricity remained the two ways to operate a typewriter until the present day.
